Big Blue View
Well, yes ... sort of .. until the time comes to go all-in on Jaxson Dart
Russell Wilson may or may not still have the ability to play football at an elite level. The New York Giants quarterback, though, is undoubtedly an elite name-dropper.
During a post-practice session with media on Thursday that lasted roughly 12 minutes, Wilson managed to name-drop 25 Giants players, coaches, and staff members.
Wilson’s extensive, and impressive, name-drop list:
Bobby Okereke, Tim Slaman (equipment), Aaron Wellman (player performance), Drew Wilson (strength and conditioning), Brian Daboll, Mike Kafka, Shea Tierney, John Michael Schmitz, Jon Runyan, Wan’Dale Robinson, Malik Nabers, Jalin Hyatt, Daniel Bellinger, Greg Dulcich, Jaxson Dart, Jameis Winston, Tommy DeVito, Dexter Lawrence, Brian Burns, Kayvon Thibodeaux, Abdul Carter, Paulson Adebo, Jevon Holland, wide receivers coach Mike Groh, Darius Slayton.
Wilson had done something similar in an introductory Zoom call shortly after signing with the Giants. That time, he name-dropped co-owner John Mara, GM Joe Schoen, Daboll, Director of Football Operations Ed Triggs. Kafka, Tierney, and 14 players.
Perhaps this, in answer to a question about whether he willingly mentors a player like first-round pick Jaxson Dart — the player who will likely one day take over the reins as Giants quarterback — tells you something about why.
“I’ve always viewed it as you’re always trying to be the best version of you, and then you’re always giving back to everybody else. I think that it’s not just about one teammate, it’s about all the teammates. It’s about everybody in the building,” Wilson said.
“It’s about from all the way to the quarterback room, to the receivers, to the running backs, to the tight ends, to the O-line, and the relationship there, all the way to the defensive line, to the corners, and all the way to the training room. ...
“So it’s like, to me, it’s all-inclusive, and that’s always the approach.”
Wilson will turn 37 during this, his 14th season in the NFL. He had made 10 Pro Bowls. He has played in two Super Bowls, winning one. He has been to the playoffs nine times in his 13 seasons. He has topped 4,000 yards passing four times, thrown more than 30 touchdown passes in a season five times, and passed for more than 46,000 yards with 350 touchdown passes in his career. He has a regular-season record of 121-77-1 as a starter.
Wilson is, to say the least, a decorated quarterback.
It is sometimes hard to reconcile that Wilson with the perception of the one who has arrived in East Rutherford, N.J. to quarterback the Giants. The last few years of Wilson’s career have been somewhat of a car wreck.
It took 10 years with the Seattle Seahawks before Wilson quarterbacked a team that had a losing record. Seahawks coach Pete Carroll, though, used that losing record to send Wilson packing.
Perhaps Carroll was tired of fighting about how much control of the offense Wilson should have....
